Burrendong crest raising complete

Wednesday 15 June 2011

NSW Parliamentary Secretary for Natural Resources and Member for Dubbo Troy Grant MP has welcomed the completion of works to raise the Burrendong Dam wall and saddle dams by 1.8 metres in a $28 million project managed by State Water Corporation.

The project is one of seven taking place near regional towns across the state funded by the NSW Government to enable the storages to withstand extreme flood events by increasing their ability to safely pass massive amounts of water.

Mr Grant said the $8.4 million stage 1A works required up to 30 people to work on the site at any one time throughout the project, with many of them living in the local area.

“The towns of Wellington, Dubbo and Orange have all benefited through this project by accommodating staff, suppling subcontractors and employees or goods and services,” Mr Grant said.

“Project contractors Macmahon were able to engage the services of more than 20 suppliers from the surrounding region.”

The unique nature and significant scope of the project made it the subject of a visit by Engineers Australia’s Dubbo Country Group.

“Eighteen engineers from Orange, Bathurst and Dubbo visited the site in September 2010 for an opportunity to see a multi-million dollar project in action in the local area.”

Stage 1B of the project will involve modifications to the spillway, including raising and strengthening the spillway chute and training walls, and is currently in the detailed design and investigation phase.

Works on the spillway will not affect normal water releases which are made through an outlet valve.

The works will be scheduled to accommodate potential operation of the spillway.

Construction on stage 1B is scheduled to commence in 2013 and is expected to take two years to complete.

Once stage one is complete the dam will be assessed to determine the priority of any further works.